


(It was) About time

by YourAverageFox



Category: Jesus Christ Superstar - All Media Types
Genre: Humour, M/M, Sort Of, based on the 2012 arena tour, my OC Zach gets namedropped
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-24
Updated: 2018-03-24
Packaged: 2019-04-07 09:24:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,141
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14077827
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YourAverageFox/pseuds/YourAverageFox
Summary: Annas makes up his mind about something. Caiaphas is just confused.





	(It was) About time

**Author's Note:**

> It was about time I finally gave my contribution to the sin ship. The title is a shameless pun on the plot of the fic and the aforementioned fact. I'm not even sorry.

"Look, I have no clue of what you're talking about?"

It was definitely not a question, yet Caiaphas' voice circled around the words with a slight hint of doubt, as if he didn't dare to pronounce them with too much certainty lest he ended up being murdered on the spot by the man standing in front of him.

It was the first clue that persuaded Annas to make a half-hearted attempt at appearing more relaxed and less on the brink of committing a capital crime. It wasn't a very good attempt.

In his defense, that wasn't the answer he had been expecting when he had asked Caiaphas how in the world he had never noticed a single one of his not-so-subtle attempts at flirting with him. For five whole years.

The fact that he hadn't had the chance to have a well deserved cup of coffee yet wasn't really helping.

Actually, everything that had happened that morning had been indirectly caused by coffee. Or lack thereof.

It had been mostly because he had woken up to find the coffee machine malfunctioning, that his under-caffeinated brain had somehow convinced him to put a stop to the circus his romantic life had been in the last few years.

After all, there comes a time in a man's life when he can't keep on taking his hot co-worker out to dinner with the excuse of discussing business together. More than that, there's also a time in which he has to give up lying and stop pretending that it is not, in fact, a date.

The neverending cycle of one-sided dating had been fun, at first, but kept becoming more and more frustrating as Caiaphas made it painfully clear how oblivious he was to all of Annas' small gestures which hinted at his interest in something more than just discussing work for hours on end.

However, the conversation had started less than five minutes before and Annas was already regretting having ever decided to bring up the subject.

He sighed, trying to ignore that part of his brain that was currently screaming _punch him, punch him in his ridiculously good-looking face!_ and adopt a more rational approach.

"Do you want me to go in chronological or alphabetical order?"

Caiaphas let out a small chuckle.

"Oh, come on, the list can't be lon--"

"I bought you chocolates every year for your birthday, for a start. Your favourite brand, of course."

"And I appreciated it, don't get me wrong, but I thought you..." He stopped speaking for a moment as the realization dawned on him. "Wait. You set up Zachary to do background researches on me to find out my favourite brand of chocolates, didn't you? That's why he volunteered to house-sit for me when I went on holiday!"

"That's not...relevant, right now." Annas cut him short before he could ask him some more questions he didn't really feel like answering at that moment. "I've also been bringing you coffee every morning since we've moved in the same office."

"I just assumed you were being practical, since you needed to have a coffee yourself anyway."

Annas allowed himself a smirk, noticing how Caiaphas' confidence started to falter. And he couldn't help but be extremely grateful for how easy it had been to steer the conversation away from the more...unorthodox details of his courtship.

"Clearly. As was helping you take your coat off, I guess. And oh, so practical of me to invite you to dinner basically every monday eh?"

It was a strange thing, witnessing a series of sudden realizations taking place in a person's head just by looking at his face. For a solid minute Caiaphas remained silent, looking exactly like someone who had been granted access to some obscure and astonishing knowledge but wasn't sure what to make of it yet.

Annas leaned back against his desk, deciding to give him some time to comfortably process everything. After all, he reasoned, he was being a bit too harsh with him and it wasn't really his fault if nature had made him apparently unable to grasp the concept of subtext.

Eventually, the other man seemed to come back to himself.

"Do you realize all of this could have been avoided if you just...asked me out? I would have said yes."

"Of course you woul-- Wait. You would have _accepted_?"

Caiaphas shrugged and offered him a smile.

Annas had never felt so dumb in his entire life. He looked at the other man in disbelief, trying to make sense of what he had just heard.

He had been ready to be rejected, obviously, and despite all his efforts to ignore it there still was that annoying little thought which kept suggesting him that if his co-worker failed to understand the subtext implied in his actions it was just because he didn't want to humiliate him by openly refusing his attentions.

His usual approach to everything in life could be neatly summed up with the adage _always expect the worst, in most cases you'll be right, in a few others you'll be pleasantly surprised._  
The thing is, he wasn't ready to be pleasantly surprised that time.

"Is the offer still up?"

"I thought you were the one making offers, here?"

"Right."

  
***

  
"I could have been a little more straightforward, I guess." Annas conceded later that evening. "You're still the most hopelessly oblivious person I've ever met, though."

They were sitting at opposite sides of what had become their usual table in their usual restaurant.

"And yet, you tried to woo me for nearly five years. That's what I call dedication!" Caiaphas looked at him, a smirk forming at the corner of his lips. "Well, that or I'm way more charming and handsome than I thought."

Annas snorted. He coun't really deny it at this point, could he?

"Point taken. Now shut up, please, or I will make you."

The other man raised an eyebrow, visibly amused.

"Is that an offer of some kind?"

"Don't push it, _Joseph_. You're the one who wuoldn't recognize an attempt at flirting if it punched you in the guts."

"Alright, I'm not going to argue with that. Anyway, dinner's on me this time."

"Oh, come on, let me at least pay the drinks!"

"I'm not accepting 'no' for an answer." Caiaphas replied immediately, before taking a sip of wine from his glass. "Besides, if you went on and paid everything yourself like usual, I may just mistake it for an act of selfless kindness towards a co-worker. That's what you've been doing for five years, isn't it?"

"You utter bastard." The insult came out a little less bitter than Annas had intended, making it sound more like a peculiar term of endearment than anything else. "Alright, fine. Dinner's on you."

"Wonderful! I'm glad we have reached an agreement."

"Yeah, whatever."

 


End file.
